A man walks in front of a poster of the All Nippon Airways (ANA)'s Boeing 787 plane in Tokyo. ANA had to cancel a flight earlier this week after a computer wrongly indicated there was a problem with the Boeing 787's brakes. (Associated Press) Prompted by a series of mechanical issues this week, the Federal Aviation Administration says it'll investigate Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. Although both the FAA and Boeing say there's no data to suggest the plane is unsafe, investigators...

Will the sun finally set on some of the airlines' most aggravating policies? (Getty Images) Tougher New Airline Regulations Ahead Trying to book and pay for a plane ticket can make you feel helpless. But the Department of Transportation (DOT) is expected to come to your rescue this spring, according to reports from USA Today and Huffington Post. The new regulations could force airlines to tell you exactly what you're paying for before you buy a ticket. (MORE: 5 Travel...

A view of the Florida island on sale on eBay. (eBay) A longtime Volusia County resident is trying to auction off part of an uninhabited island in the Intracoastal Waterway for as little as $459,000 on eBay. On the plus side, the waterfront views are unencumbered and neighbors are nonexistent on the 3-acre site in Port Orange. On the minus side, future inhabitants would need solar power, a rainwater cistern and permission from local government to build anything there. The...

(Project Linq Las Vegas) If your kids are afraid of heights, you better start breaking them of that phobia now; observation wheels top the list of family travel trends for 2013 and beyond. To be clear, I’m not talking run-of-the-mill (pun intended) Ferris wheels here. I’m talking big-ass Ferris wheels. Giant ones. Like, wheels that make the legendary Singapore Flyer (501 feet tall) and the iconic London Eye (443 feet) look like rinky-dink rides from a Hobbit-oriented amusement park in...

(Matt Villano) We Americans have grown accustomed to insuring all of our most valuable stuff—our homes, our cars, even our lives. Oddly, however, very few of us insure our trips; according to the U.S. Travel Insurance Association, fewer than one-third of Americans who travel purchase travel insurance. If you’re a solo traveler whose plans rarely change, I can understand being hesitant. But for family travelers, especially those who spend multiple thousands of dollars on vacations with multiple children, NOT buying...

(One Step Ahead) Vendors serving the parenting space will stop at nothing to try and convince us moms and dads how much of their stuff we need. Sometimes, they’ve got a point—that little clip-and-tether doohickey that keeps the baby’s pacifier from hitting the ground is genius. In the case of family travel, however, most of the products dubbed “must-haves” represent colossal wastes of cash. Here are three (well, really, four) of the least necessary I’ve come across so far. Baby...

(Rayes/Thinkstock) While it’s important to bring a bathing suit when you and the family hit the road this summer, it’s even more critical to make sure your children are safe. I recently sat down with Alison Rhodes-Jacobson, a.k.a. Safety Mom, to glean some tips for safer family vacations. Here are the highlights of our chat. Q. How can parents ‘train’ their kids to be safer when the family is away from home? A. Have an emergency evacuation plan in case...

(Courtesy of Brookstone) Here, in no particular order, is a rundown of which toys are best to bring along on a trip. Ones you can read Books—both those of the real-life-paper and electronic ilk—are great for road trips (as opposed to plane trips) because you don’t have to worry about bringing too many. Especially if you or your children get car sick, it’s best to bring books with large pictures and big font; this way no-one has to strain his...

(Matt Villano) It’s time to spotlight the good and the bad of what to expect from family travel in the 2013. First, the good. According to Travel & Leisure, a number of the “most important travel trends” for 2013 relate to families. Among them: The increased prevalence (and increased affordability) of cruising, further expansion of the green movement in travel, a growing number of tourists renting villas, the widespread use of electronic travel documents, and a general move to make...

Hollywood is showing a lot of love for Denzel Washington in "Flight", nominating him for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe. In the movie, Washington's character, pilot Whip Whitaker, is forced to roll the plane on its back and fly upside-down to avoid disaster. However is it really possible to fly a plane like that? Not for very long, according to experts interviewed by CNN. The film "enjoyed a bit of artistic license," says Larry Goodrich, a pilot with...

(MCT Photo Service) If life hands you lemons, you make lemonade, right? But if life hands you nettles, and you're on Orcas Island? You make pizza. On a recent rainy Thursday, during the weekly pizza and open-microphone night at Doe Bay Cafe, an overflow crowd of locals steamed up the wood-framed windows overlooking emerald-green Otter Cove. Manny's ale fueled loud, happy conversations. Topping the popular pie this night: nettle pesto, a sprinkling of blue cheese, Parmesan, pecans and sliced roasted...

(MCT Photo Service) Victoria retains its compact, easygoing nature, with major sights clustered around downtown's Inner Harbour. But I decided to explore the edges of the city,or at least as far as I could leisurely go on foot, bike and a shiny-red rented motor scooter. It's an ideal city to visit car-free. From Seattle, visitors can zip to Victoria on the high-speed Clipper passenger-only ferries or the even faster Kenmore Air float planes. Dozens of hotels are within a 10-minute...